Back to the Future: The Rise of Militarization in China in the 2020s
In this policy brief, IGCC director Tai Ming Cheung analyzes Chinese militarization efforts as the country seeks tighter integration of the civilian and defense economies and a strong sense of national security, and whether such efforts lead to China being more prone to going to war in the near future.
DownloadChina is ramping up efforts to safeguard its national security in a world ruptured by hot and cold wars. In this policy brief, IGCC director and UC San Diego professor Tai Ming Cheung analyzes a key approach: militarization, which is the mobilization of major parts of the nation and economy to prepare for militarized competition and armed conflict across multiple domains. Cheung identifies that these efforts can be seen from calls from top leaders like Xi Jinping to prepare for the most “extreme” circumstances to the growing presence of defense industry representatives in top-level political and bureaucratic institutions like the Politburo. Prime goals of this militarization effort include forging a tight integration of the civilian and defense economies and ensuring the defense industrial base can meet the military’s expansive needs. This militarization process is poised to accelerate over the next decade. Whether a militarized China is more prone to going to war is up for debate, but its leaders want to ensure that the country will be ready.
Thumbnail credit: NARA & DVIDS